Steering apparatus



UNITED sTATEs PATENToEErcE.

JAMEs s. ooLv'IfN, 0E PrrTsBune, PENEsrLvANIA.,`

STEERING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 26,652, dated January 3,1860; r

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES S. CoLvIN, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Pilot-Wheel Drum; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section taken through the drum, wheel house and stern of the vessel, showing the construction of the drum and the arrangement of the tiller rope around the same. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the drum, wheel, and rudder showing clearly thel arrangement of the parts and the manner of operating the rudder.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

The object of my invention and improvement is to give the pilotmore perfect control of his vessel, by enabling him to move the rudder with greater speed, certainty and ease than has heretofore been accomplished.

In the present construction of pilot wheels a plain drum is used which if made small enough to move the rudder with ease when it is hard-round much time will be lost in moving it past the center, where but little power is required; and if the drum or aXle be made large enough to move the rudders fast as desirable in passing the center,`out of its parallel position with the ship, the pilot will not be able to put it hard-round; and furthermore where a plain drum is employed it is a well known fact that` the tiller rope cannot be kept always taut, as the distance it traverses is not always the same, for instance, when the tiller is parallel with the sides of the vessel, the tiller rope is eX- tended to its utmost, but when the tiller is vbrought around hard -a-port the line is straight and is as much shorter as the cord of the arc is to the arc described by the end of the tiller, therefore in using a plain drum an amount equal to this difference must remain.

My invention further remedies the difficulty experienced by the rope riding upon its previous turn which is a source of considerable annoyance at present.

Y To enable those skilled in the art to .ffullyl` l understand my inventionI will proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation.`

A represents the r rudder mounted and l" l 3 hung in the usual manner,and B, itsftiller;

C is the wheel-house,and D may beltaken for the stern of the vessel. `E E are the standards for supporting the aXle, andll"` l is the steering wheel.` y heseparts are al in common with those now in use. i 1

Gr is the aXle composedof two double con-"l1 y ical enlargements, L a, with` deep groovesin their surface, running in a continuous chan-` nel from end to end of the axle, 1n whlch l grooves is wound the `tiller rope, JQ This rope 1s passed around the drum or aXle,"G, a sufficlent number of times and each end 1s carried to opposite sides` of the vesselyand l" passed over pulley Wheels, NN, and from these they are secured to the end of, the `1 "l tiller, B. Now by turnin the steering wheel 7,5 portion of the drum or double cone,a, to`

the rope will bealternate y wound'from` one the other, the rudder moving, at the sameA time, in the two extremeopposite positions. y l

The tiller rope iswound upon the cones in such a. manner that their largest diameter shall move the rudder while nearlyparallel,

as shown by Figs. land 2 of the drawing,

thereby enabling thepilot to3bring the rud` 1 der hard-round, or nearly so, with very little l labor, as the reaction ,of the water1 against` the rudder as the ship advances is `very 1 f slight when it is parallel with the sides of` the vessel, and gradually increases "assithe rudder is made to assume "a position i oblique to the plane of the masts and keel, there-` in diameter as therudder isbroughthard` round, and vice versa. l The same number of revolutions'of the steering or pilotwheel as i. are now required willput the rudder hard-` round and every turn "mayybe` madewith ease, speed will be obtained whereit `is most desirable and` greaterease here it is indis` pensable.

In orderto keep .thelitillerj rope always taut I make the two inner partsof the spiral l l cones as much smaller than the `outer as may` be found necessary. This will also prevent ranged as shown for the purpose specified.

JAMES S. COLVIN.

a tendency of the rope to ride, Which is a source of considerable annoyance at present; and it will insure its remaining in the spiral grooves.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is Y Witnesses:

LEONARD S. JOHNS, J No. W. KLEIN. 

